High court glitch delays news on gay marriage

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court says technical problems kept dozens of reporters at the court and people checking the court's website from learning immediately that the justices had rejected gay marriage appeals from five states.

More than 30 pages were missing from copies of the court's list of more than 1,500 rejected appeals that were handed to reporters at 9:30 a.m. EDT. The list is also posted electronically, but it was only intermittently available on the revamped website the court rolled out Monday.

Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said technical glitches were responsible for problems in the paper and electronic documents.

Reporters soon noticed that page 17 on the list was followed by page 51, but they did not immediately know that the gay marriage cases were on the missing pages. After the gap was noticed, the court quickly distributed a complete version.